Race Recap: Hot Chocolate 15K San Diego

Hot Chocolate 15K San Diego

San Diego, CA | March 20

Another adventure with Beast Pacing!

This race has been on my calendar for MONTHS and I was soo stoked it was finally here! After getting in some miles at the club on Saturday (after like, ten weeks of being away), I headed home to get showered, finished packing, saying goodbye to Doug and the pup, and then headed back down to Jacky's house. Advantages to knowing tons of people doing this race? Carpool and hotel buddies! I was crashing with Jacky and her mom, so that was a definite advantage, compared to having to drive down the morning of the race like last weekend. After a mad dash to the expo (traffic sucked so we made it at 4:30 for a 5 pm closing time) and dinner with a dozen IERC runners, we made it to our hotel, got set for the morning and promptly passed out (me, at least). 

The Beast team met up at 6:20 for a race start of 7:45. There are tons of us that paced this race, as Hot Chocolate sets it up as such: preferred corrals (7:00' pace to 11:30' pace) and open corrals (9:00' to 15:00' paces). There's all kinds of qualifications for preferred times and all here. I was pacing the 9:30 group in the preferred corrals. (I was supposed to be the 10:00 pacer but moved up about a week and a half ago, so as long as I had a good day and met my pace, I guaranteed myself a PR!)

One thing I'd heard about regularly from folks who've done this race before were the hills throughout the race, to which I always thought, Well, duh, it's San Diego! San Diego is HILLY! 

The course runs through Balboa Park (re: uphill) the first 5K, then flattens out into some slight rolling hills. After winding down through Balboa Park again, there's a nasty little corkscrew up hill run at mile 7 but once you're at the top, it's a flat run and then will make its way mostly downhill for the remainder. With the start and finish near Petco Park, there's tons of room for the post-race party and fun that Hot Chocolate races involve... because duh, chocolate. 

5K: 29:24, 9:28 pace

10K: 58:46, 9:28 pace 

Finish: 1:28:27, 9:30 pace

Can you ask for anything more perfect? I've never nailed my paces that much and had such a great day doing it! Some of those hills made me work but overall the course gave me a great workout. I had a blast cheering on runners and got sooo many thank you's, which just totally made my day. Love getting to help people PR and make their goals, but there's nothing like other people thanking you for what you're doing. I just love to run - helping people out is just an added bonus! 

Mission accomplished! AND - this is just icing the cake - I paced myself to a 6-minute 15K PR! I recognize that 15Ks are rare (this is my fourth ever), but I'm pretty stoked! 

Did you tackle the hills yesterday? If not chocolate, what do you run for?

Race Recap: Inaugural Riverside Turkey Trot

Riverside Turkey Trot 5/15K

Riverside, CA | November 26, 2015

I'd been eye-balling a turkey trot race for a while, but couldn't decide on which one to do. I'd done the local Claremont trot two years ago, but as soon as I heard about this inaugural race and it offering a 15K, I knew I was in. 15Ks are hard to come by, especially around here, so I was super excited to not only be running, but to get another chance to pace this race. I was in for the 15K and Doug then signed up for the 5K -- look at us both getting our pre-turkey sweat on!

The race also offers a combo challenge - 15K and then the 5K and you get a bonus medal. The 15K started at 7 am for that reason, and then the 5K not until 8:45 so you had a solid hour + 45 minutes to finish the 9.3 miles, jog back to the race start (.10 miles, if that) and start again with the 5K. 

15K course map.

5K course map.

While race day packet pick up was offered, Doug and I made our way down to south Riverside (Arlington Park, home of the Citrus Heritage races) on Sunday morning to get our stuff, as we figured it was one less thing to worry about on race day. 

Since the start times were so drastically different, I left home by myself about 5:45 to be at the start line at 6:15 to meet up with the other pacers and get things in order. It was mighty cold, and I'm glad I left my long sleeve tech shirt on and didn't even get warm until mile 8 (which says a lot because normally my arms are warm in the first two miles). Doug and his coaching buddy Eddie followed along about 8 am for their later start time. 

There was a good number of people lined up for the 15K - again, the selling point being that 15Ks are hard to come by! Final results show just over 350 finishers, which is a pretty great turn out for that race, and then another 900 for the 5K alone. Fantastic, in my books, for an inaugural race. 

As the 12:00 minute pacer, I was looking forward to a good, fat-burning slow run and just wanted to enjoy the morning, as cool and perfect as it was for a race. There were a couple of folks who lined up around me, but only one guy, Dave, actually hung with me the entire race as we talked about races, running the 50 states, his daughters and running partners, and literally killed the entire race just talking. Sometimes those are the best ways to distract yourself during a race! 

Running along the Santa Ana River trail was absolutely beautiful and a great change in scenery. I'll be running at Fairmount Park for Lace Up again next weekend, so it was nice to have a slight change in scenery but also to familiarize myself with the area and what I'm getting into for next weekend's half marathon! We were a little fast coming into the second turnaround at mile 6, so got to slow up a bit and enjoy the last few miles - my Garmin came in about .10 miles short (9.2) so we were tracked at a slightly speedier pace than what we maintained. I was relieved to see that another pacer or two had also caught the course short and that it wasn't just me! 

After the next pacer came in and I could pass off my signs, I headed backwards along the 5K course (also the last 1.5 of the 15K course) to find Doug and run him in a bit. I ran with him for another half mile or so until he hit the monster downhill into the finish, and then ran back up to find his friend Eddie (his second 5K ever, and his first was just five days prior!) to run with him the rest of the way in. An extra 1.8 miles for me to round out to an even 11 for the day! 

Medal adorableness.

We hung out at the finish line for a bit and then made our way out to head to a (light!) breakfast before getting on with our Thanksgiving day excitement (Disneyland + duh, dinner!). A great race, Eddie PRed and Doug ran just about his target time for the 5K. A success all in all! 

Race Pros:

- Great course; mostly flat and fast with few rolling hills

- Fantastic medal + tech shirt for both 5K and 15K participants 

- Pacers for both races 

Race Cons:

- It's totally a pet peeve for things to say "1st Annual" because for as much as you intend for it to be an annual thing, you never know... plus, having an "inaugural" medal makes it that much cooler! But that's minor. 

- 15K course slightly short 

Seriously, for an inaugural race(s), I have no major complaints whatsoever. I loved the course, the company, the volunteers that were out (high schoolers) spending their Thanksgiving morning with us! A super job well done to the Riverside Road Runners for a great race and a great Thanksgiving morning!

Did you Turkey Trot this year? How was your race?

Cocktails, Conversation and Chocolate

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I had the really cool opportunity to attend this on Wednesday night:

I was really excited as first, it was my first real bloggers' event and secondly, I'm excited to say that I'm serving as an ambassador (of all things chocolate) for them again -- but more on that in a minute!

Surely by now you've heard of the chocolatey goodness that is the Hot Chocolate race series. If you haven't, you're clearly not a chocolate lover and clearly not paying attention. These races span everywhere from San Diego to St. Louis and Chicago to Dallas, and feature both a 5 and 15K at each race, coupled with pretty much the most delicious post-race party ever -- and some sweet swag to boot!

Wednesday night's event was at the super snazzy Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown LA - it's still a trip to think that I live here now. Beautiful hotel, gorgeous rooms and decor. I digress. I showed just about 6:05, which is rather early for LA time given the traffic, and was one of the first non-RAM racing folks to show up. At first I was a little intimidated, no lie, but soon found Josiah (the awesome ambassador coordinator who does a whole bunch of marketing fun stuff) and connected and got to talking with him and another guy who was just as "early" as I was, from the LA Running Club.

Hangin' with Steve.

Soon people were milling all over, and while I hardly talked to most of the other bloggers or local race directors or other folks, I had a great time meeting the staff from RAM and interacting with a few other local runners. I'll find my niche here at some point!

Steve Ginsberg, one of the founders to RAM Racing, spent a few minutes talking about RAM's history, how it came to be the racing company that it is, and covered everything from their original races (like the Bucktown 5K and the Cinco de Miler) and eventually, how Hot Chocolate came to be! The discussion then turned to the future. Hot Chocolate races obviously provide you with steaming hot chocolate at the end, thus typically holding races during the cooler months (October-April in most locations). What RAM realized though was the opportunity to do the reverse and not necessarily give up some months just because they're warmer. Runners' safety is accounted for, of course, however, there are chances to do other great things! And thus...

Los Angeles is serving as home to the first Frozen Hot Chocolate! I know, I know 'frozen' and 'hot' don't belong together, but as they assured us, it's truly a frozen chocolate drink (the final agreed term was 'malt' but don't hold me to that). And being that the weather is a little too warm for that famous tech hoodie, the swag bags for the frozen race will include both a tech shirt (they are so soft - both in men's and women's cuts!) and one of two choices of sport sunglasses (two color options each too)!. Still a pretty sweet deal if you ask me (pun intended).

Since I served as an Ambassador to the new Atlanta race for 2013, and pending my move (at the time), I was able to snag a spot by serving as an Ambassador for Los Angeles, now that I'm here and settled! Pretty exciting, if you ask me. So what does this mean for you? Extra swag!

use code LAmug1 

when you register to add this adorable travel mug to your chocolate swag collection!

Who will I see there? Will you be doing the 5K or the 10K?

As an ambassador, I do not automatically receive a race entry, merely various RAM racing products and marketing supplies to aid in the recruitment of runners for this event. All opinions and thoughts are my own and do not necessarily reflect that of RAM Racing. I like chocolate, I like running, and I definitely like running for chocolate and would probably do so without all the extra fun stuff that Ambassadors are privy to!

Race Report: Hot Chocolate 15K Atlanta [The Race]

Hot Chocolate 15K | January 13, 2013

Atlanta, GA

You can read my Expo review here.

Before I start my post(s) about the Hot Chocolate race, I want to clarify two things: first, I did serve as an Ambassador for HC Atlanta, which solely meant that  I got to help promote the race and got a few free race things (not a race entry); and b) despite knowing issues with RAM Racing in the likes of DC and Chicago, I was trying to remember to be [cautiously] optimistic given that Atlanta is a new city for them. That being said...  I like chocolate. I like running. I like running for chocolate.

Saturday night, my sister and I headed down to Atlanta to hang out at Heather's house for the night, so we didn't have to leave Athens at oh-dark-hundred hours. So grateful to have Heather to crash with, and to host us both. Convenience at its finest. Since we were able to buy a parking ticket for Turner, we were thankful able to leave a little later than had we needed to park downtown and shuttle - but even still, they recommended that runners arrive by 6:30 am. Considering the 5K didn't start until 7:45, and the 15K until 8:15, that was a little brutal.

Heather, me and Brandi before the race! Sorority sisters!

We got to meet up with Brandi and her mom, Karen, and take in our normal pre-race photos and fun before we headed towards the corrals to see my sister, Brandi, and Karen off in the 5K. Afterwards, Heather and I headed to gear check and get in to our corrals once all the 5Kers had taken off. 5K runners were assigned corrals A-G, and 15Kers I-N. In total between the two races, there were nearly 14,000 runners taking over Turner Field on Sunday morning! Insanity!

This race and fun turned out to be particularly special to me because while I didn't run with them per se, I got to run with not only my true, blood-related sister, but my letter sisters too. What fun! 

My goal for the race was to run a steady pace and aimed for a 1:35 finish - that would put me on target for (slightly faster than) goal marathon pace and get me a PR for sure (the only other 15K I've done was over five years ago, 1:44:xx). Given that I was still finishing my battle with the chest cold from hell, I'd be happy with anything ballpark to that and would be a great last race pre-marathon.

I'm sure glad I checked the course elevation last minute online - this course was no joke!

[source]

I mean seriously. I took it semi-easy up until the 5K mark, took in my first Gu, and tried to plow through until the mile 5 marker or so where I knew it got tough (did I mention I was glad I actually checked out the course elevation?). I mean, Atlanta is hilly, that's a given, but this course sure did show them off! Good push, for sure. My first Gu didn't kick in until just before mile 5 and when I took my second Gu at the 10K split, I didn't feel that come into play until nearly mile 8 - but they sure did the trick at the end.

The course(s) both go under the Olympic rings at the Turner complex - I believe the 5K started through there and the 15K finished through there. I was dying for a photo, but just wanted to finish at that point. Thankfully, the road down into the parking lot, and the finish line, is a gradual downhill that at least encourages you through for the last of the long haul. It was exciting to see my sister at the finish line waiting for me! :) I got my chocolate (more on that below!), ate up, waited on Heather, and ran with her in the last .11 miles to the finish (I think I got better finish line photos the second time around!)

Myself, Heather, and sister.

Final time?

1:34:51

If I'm not good at meeting my time goals then man... I don't know what. 9 seconds to spare, race average of 10:06, and more than I was expecting. Happy last race before the marathon! 

And what's even better than that? That's right... that post-race party that gets all the hype. So worth it. Of course, with nearly 70 degrees and pretty much 100% humidity in January, the last thing I wanted was hot chocolate. The fondue, however, was divine and certainly worth that course! There were tons of stations to get your finisher's mug and chocolate goodness, and I waited in line for maybe all of 30 seconds before I was up at the front. Even with 14,000 runners, they had this down to a science and it was fast. 

Yeah, pretty much best post-race food ever.

Race Pros

- Turner Field is a great location - tons of space, allows for maximum space for pre/post race gathering, bathrooms, gear check, etc. 
- Awesome race swag (a new tech-ish hoodie never hurts!)
- Fantastic post race party!
- Challenging course - awesome, but challenging
- Volunteers were fabulous! 
- Positive experience overall!

 

Race Cons

- I wish there had been different swag for 5K/15Kers - 5Kers pay about $20 less, but get the same sweet sweatshirt. Maybe 5Kers could get a long sleeve shirt, 15Kers the hoodie? 
- Parking confusion
- Pre-race communication seemed spotty (learned that some folks' emails went to spam, some got theirs, I still never saw mine)
- Communication with Atlanta Police/parking folks about where to go to actually park
- Ridiculous Atlanta Januar weather... but RAM Racing can't help that fact!   

Sister love. So happy she was here this weekend!

Thanks RAM Racing!

 I served as an Ambassador for the Atlanta Hot Chocolate race. While I did not receive compensation or a comped race entry fee, I did receive two shirts and a race hat from RAM Racing prior to the race. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Hot Chocolate 5K/15K | Atlanta

Happy Tuesday, and more importantly, Happy Election Day everyone!

After a chain of lost emails (I suggest testing your forwarding email address before passing it out to anyone and everyone for use) and thankfully, quickly caught-up email communciation... I am officially an ambassador for the Hot Chocolate 5K/15K that’s coming to Atlanta on January 13, 2013! The course is tentatively slated to start and end at the amazing Turner Field, so you know it's bound to be an amazing race for the course alone! 

What dip-cision will you make?

The race is going to be pretty sweet (literally) – the post-race party is a giant fondue and hot chocolate party and your race swag is a Hot Chocolate Race hoodie - can you say awesome?

How sweet are these?

 Check out the site for more details: Hot Chocolate | Atlanta

If you register, use the code HCATLHAT11 (all caps) and it’ll give you a free hat too!

Hot Chocolate is coming to a few host cities this year. Are you participating in any of them? Will you join me in Atlanta?

And of course... did you vote today?